FishyReef
Broke Reefer!
Yes they do - JBJ Waterweld. Its a white 2 part epoxy stick. Its what I used for my rocks.
Cannister filters for saltwater
- Thread starter jahel318
- Start date
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Yes, it's in the plumbing section. There are lots of brands you can use. Make sure the label says it's safe for potable water.
jahel318
Reefing newb
Can they be used underwater?
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Yeah, it will say on the label if it can be applied underwater.
jahel318
Reefing newb
OK everyone, I'm excited. I ordered 45 lbs of dry rock from Marco rocks that should be here next week and I'll start aquascaping. I've also added chaeto to my DT. As far as my idea for building a sump, I've realized that my cabinet space is way too small. The only realistic thing I can build is a wet/dry filter or else I need a bigger cabinet or add a side cabinet which I don't want (for space issues and because I love my unique tank & cabinet design). So, I've decided to get another cannister filter since I haven't had water quality problems in the past 2 years and my fish are doing great. I think I may later add a small HOB refugium even though I was trying to avoid having anything HOB.
My question is this: since I have chaeto in the tank, should I continue having Phoszorb inside the filter? Or should I avoid the Phoszorb since chaeto needs the phosphates to keep growing?
My question is this: since I have chaeto in the tank, should I continue having Phoszorb inside the filter? Or should I avoid the Phoszorb since chaeto needs the phosphates to keep growing?
FishyReef
Broke Reefer!
I'm just going to throw out there that I think this decision will come back to bite you and you're just going to end up spending more money. What are the dimensions of the wet-dry filter that can fit in your cabinet? What is the total volume of the wet-dry filter? Have you checked to find a similar footprint tank to use as a sump? Have you thought about converting the wet-dry filter into a standard sump? You can replace bioballs with live rock rubble, and can even make the trickle part of the filter into a tiny algae scrubber, then add an HOB protein skimmer to wet part of the wet-dry filter instead of doing the HOB on your tank so that its hidden. There are a lot of options that will keep your tank far cleaner than going with a canister filter. Honestly, taking short cuts ends up being more expensive in the end in this hobby. Just my :twocents:
jahel318
Reefing newb
How about the CPR aquafuge HOB refugium? What if I add some sort of mechanical &chemical filtration media in the first chamber? My cabinet dimensions are: 25" tall(20" height to the back opening for the tubing) x 11"wide x 14"deep.
By the way, what is a "center brace" when talking about HOB refugiums & aquariums?? I heard the term on Utube - NewYork Steelo's pt.1 video on his HOB aquafuge
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Bifferwine
I am a girl
If you can fit a wet/dry, then you can fit a sump. They can be the same size as each other.
My question is, if your water quality is good, why are you adding another canister filter? Adding another canister filter won't improve your water quality but it certainly has the potential to make your water quality worse!
My question is, if your water quality is good, why are you adding another canister filter? Adding another canister filter won't improve your water quality but it certainly has the potential to make your water quality worse!
jahel318
Reefing newb
I don't have the room to add the 3 chambers I had anticipated on (Intake, a decent area for the refugium, and pump outake). I wasn't "adding" another canister...what happened was that my current one broke down approx 3wks ago and so I've been stressing over trying to keep the fish alive & maintaining the water quality. I have been doing weekly 10% water changes until I find a perm. solution
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FishyReef
Broke Reefer!
You don't need to add 3 separate chambers. You can have a single chamber that houses everything. Sure, its nice to have room for a long sump with baffles, but not necessary. I am using a 20g tall as my sump. Its footprint is 24" x 12.5". You could even just use a 10g tank as a sump or a 5g bucket for that matter (I think that's what little_fish had for quite a while). In my sump, the water from my HOB overflow (my tank isn't drilled) dumps into a sock filter that is held in place with a ring that hangs on the side of the tank (from BRS). Sitting right in the middle of the sump (and taking up virtually all of the room) is my reef octopus skimmer. I managed to slide a large rock that didn't fit in my DT on one side of the skimmer, and on the other side I've used egg crate to wall off an area that has a ton of rubble and a ball of chaeto. The return pump just sits right next to the skimmer. I've added pvc pipe to the skimmer output area and have it dump out behind the large rock into a filter sock to reduce micro bubbles. Its not a perfect set up, but it was what I could fit inside my stand. There is absolutely no need to have separate sections. Heck, for a good 9 months I had my rubble and chaeto just surrounding my skimmer base. I finally came up with the egg crate wall idea to try to keep the chaeto from getting caught up in the skimmer filter. I think you're making the sump far more complicated than it needs to be. I sure did at the beginning and it was soo stressful, but now I've grown used to my sump as is and am happy with it for what it is!
EDIT - your cabinet isn't as long as your tank? Is your tank not a standard dimension tank? What is the size of the wet-dry that you are looking at. I am sure that we can help you come up with something that will work! And I think the center brace refers to the center brace in a lot of larger standard stands.
EDIT - your cabinet isn't as long as your tank? Is your tank not a standard dimension tank? What is the size of the wet-dry that you are looking at. I am sure that we can help you come up with something that will work! And I think the center brace refers to the center brace in a lot of larger standard stands.
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jahel318
Reefing newb
I know I'm probably stressin myself out and I'm intimidated since I've never built anything before. I posted a pic of my tank & stand on page 9 of this thread if you'd like to view it. The wet/dry's dimensions are 16"x8"x12"....I believe 16 is the legnth.
FishyReef
Broke Reefer!
I see - that is a funky stand in how its designed, doesn't give you much room. Somehow I missed that part - sorry about that!
So the wet dry will fit inside the stand? Is the footprint 8x12? Can you post a picture of the wet dry?
jahel318
Reefing newb
If I'm correct on the legnth or depth, of 16" then it won't fit underneath.
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FishyReef
Broke Reefer!
I meant the footprint inside the cabinet - so that you will know what size sump will fit.
You can convert that wet dry filter to a sump. Essentially all the white stuff would be removed and replaced with rubble (you can a 10lb bag of rubble pretty inexpensively from Bulkreefsupply). You can remove the filter pad at the top and just leave that area empty. If you ever want to run carbon you can place a bag of carbon in that area temporarily as needed. In the empty area you can place either a super space saver in-sump skimmer, or you can find an HOB skimmer and hang if off the side. I'd recommend trying to find out the dimensions of that open chamber so you will know what size skimmer you can fit. Off the top of my head I'm almost certain an aqua remora c or aqua remora urchin skimmer would fit in that area. The cone skimmers from reef octopus are going to have a larger footprint, but one of the space saver (SSS) versions might fit depending on dimensions. Depending on how the dimensions of that section and how much extra space inside the cabinet you have, you might be able to fit the smaller HOB reef octopus - it runs around $124 and would be fine in terms of what it is rated for for your system - just not sure off the top of my head how much space is between the intake and outtake on that skimmer - you'd need enough room to have both parts hang over that second chamber. You can place the return pump inside that chamber and could probably add a small ball of chaeto in that area as well, walled off by egg crate.
EDIT - yeah, I think the footprint of that might be too long for your stand. Looking at your stand, I am wondering if those two walls that make up the compartment where you are trying to fit the sump are weight bearing. With the two poles on either end, I'm thinking they aren't in fact bearing much weight. If they aren't bearing the brunt of the weight of the tank you might just be able to remove them. Hopefully someone else will chime in on that!
For what its worth, I am in the process of setting up a hexagonal tank and am going sumpless with it. I bought an HOB skimmer (reef octopus) that has an extra chamber on it where I can create a small refugium (of rubble, chaeto, and filter media if ever needed) and that is the solution I am going with. I know you really don't want to go with something that is HOB, but given the limitations of your stand I think that would be your best bet. Here's the skimmer I got: http://www.aquacave.com/Reef-Octopu...tein-Skimmer-with-Filter-System-P960C634.aspx Its a pretty sleek little piece of equipment, and the majority of it is hidden behind the tank anyway.
You can convert that wet dry filter to a sump. Essentially all the white stuff would be removed and replaced with rubble (you can a 10lb bag of rubble pretty inexpensively from Bulkreefsupply). You can remove the filter pad at the top and just leave that area empty. If you ever want to run carbon you can place a bag of carbon in that area temporarily as needed. In the empty area you can place either a super space saver in-sump skimmer, or you can find an HOB skimmer and hang if off the side. I'd recommend trying to find out the dimensions of that open chamber so you will know what size skimmer you can fit. Off the top of my head I'm almost certain an aqua remora c or aqua remora urchin skimmer would fit in that area. The cone skimmers from reef octopus are going to have a larger footprint, but one of the space saver (SSS) versions might fit depending on dimensions. Depending on how the dimensions of that section and how much extra space inside the cabinet you have, you might be able to fit the smaller HOB reef octopus - it runs around $124 and would be fine in terms of what it is rated for for your system - just not sure off the top of my head how much space is between the intake and outtake on that skimmer - you'd need enough room to have both parts hang over that second chamber. You can place the return pump inside that chamber and could probably add a small ball of chaeto in that area as well, walled off by egg crate.
EDIT - yeah, I think the footprint of that might be too long for your stand. Looking at your stand, I am wondering if those two walls that make up the compartment where you are trying to fit the sump are weight bearing. With the two poles on either end, I'm thinking they aren't in fact bearing much weight. If they aren't bearing the brunt of the weight of the tank you might just be able to remove them. Hopefully someone else will chime in on that!
For what its worth, I am in the process of setting up a hexagonal tank and am going sumpless with it. I bought an HOB skimmer (reef octopus) that has an extra chamber on it where I can create a small refugium (of rubble, chaeto, and filter media if ever needed) and that is the solution I am going with. I know you really don't want to go with something that is HOB, but given the limitations of your stand I think that would be your best bet. Here's the skimmer I got: http://www.aquacave.com/Reef-Octopu...tein-Skimmer-with-Filter-System-P960C634.aspx Its a pretty sleek little piece of equipment, and the majority of it is hidden behind the tank anyway.
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jahel318
Reefing newb
That wet/dry won't fit. The dimensions I posted earlier is the inside footprint of the cabinet...
I already own a Seaclone 100 skimmer that can be used in sump or HOB. I was thinking maybe I can close off the top of a 5 or 10 gallon aquarium, turn it up verically so that the longest part sits vertically and create an opening on the top side to fit it "tallwise". What do you think? This 10 gal. tank measures 20x11x12
I already own a Seaclone 100 skimmer that can be used in sump or HOB. I was thinking maybe I can close off the top of a 5 or 10 gallon aquarium, turn it up verically so that the longest part sits vertically and create an opening on the top side to fit it "tallwise". What do you think? This 10 gal. tank measures 20x11x12
FishyReef
Broke Reefer!
That wet/dry won't fit. The dimensions I posted earlier is the inside footprint of the cabinet...
I already own a Seaclone 100 skimmer that can be used in sump or HOB. I was thinking maybe I can close off the top of a 5 or 10 gallon aquarium, turn it up verically so that the longest part sits vertically and create an opening on the top side to fit it "tallwise". What do you think? This 10 gal. tank measures 20x11x12
See my edits above
I think you should ditch the seaclone skimmer - they aren't very good - and go with the HOB skimmer I linked to above. I think you're going to have a very hard time making a 5-10g tank water tight in the way you describe... You'd be better off just having it dump into a 5g bucket.
jahel318
Reefing newb
How about this 5 gal hexagon?
FishyReef
Broke Reefer!
What's the size of it? You'll want to make sure both the skimmer and return pump will fit in it.
jahel318
Reefing newb
13x11.5x15.5....my skimmer is 18x3.5
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FishyReef
Broke Reefer!
I'm surprised the 5g hex is that wide! It's going to be a tight squeeze in your cabinet but sounds like your skimmer will fit in it just fine then. Can you buy it locally and see how it works so that you can return it if it doesn't fit? I'd plan on a 2"x4" for your return pump size.
